- 18 Mar 2004 17:55
#128792
Well, I see what you mean but I don't know if you noticed what I wrote earlier:
"In my opinion the EU parliament cannot be considered a legitimate democratic organ, not even in the bourgeois sense. EU is not just any capitalist bloc, but a bloc of W-European imperialist bourgeoisie. It cannot be considerd by communists as a field for democratic struggle like national parliaments."
You know that EU didn't come out of nowhere, but went through different stages of development. The project was launched after WWII specifically as a union of West European monopoly capital. It has only refined during the decades, and the EU we now have is close to perfection in its State Monopoly Capitalist nature. During the decades the EEC institutions and capital have formed such a knot that allowing the existence of "democratic" organs such as the EU parliament doesn't pose any potential threat for EU as an imperialist bloc.
For communists to participate in such institutions poses an enormous threat of opportunism and corruption. Wherever communists participate in EU elections (which I don't necessarily always oppose, although I tend to support boycott) they should be absolutely clear on their principles and aims. If there's any inconsistency in the communists' anti-imperialist stance in their policy towards the EU, then such communists are doomed to be sucked in the system as a "loyal opposition" similar to social democrats in national parliaments.
It might be usefull to remember how Lenin viewed the possibility of "United States of Europe" in the context of his analysis of imperialism, for example in this particular article:
ON THE SLOGAN FOR A UNITED STATES OF EUROPE
Note that Lenin treats it as a question of principle, instead of tactics.
DJ ZenStalinist wrote:How about voting for somebody who will vote for a European Act disbanding the EU? On another note, I think it is only the problem that the EU is a capitalist institute being the problem. I think if you vote for communists in your country, who will work in the bourgeios parliament, why not vote for communists who will work in the EU parliament and influence it?
Well, I see what you mean but I don't know if you noticed what I wrote earlier:
"In my opinion the EU parliament cannot be considered a legitimate democratic organ, not even in the bourgeois sense. EU is not just any capitalist bloc, but a bloc of W-European imperialist bourgeoisie. It cannot be considerd by communists as a field for democratic struggle like national parliaments."
You know that EU didn't come out of nowhere, but went through different stages of development. The project was launched after WWII specifically as a union of West European monopoly capital. It has only refined during the decades, and the EU we now have is close to perfection in its State Monopoly Capitalist nature. During the decades the EEC institutions and capital have formed such a knot that allowing the existence of "democratic" organs such as the EU parliament doesn't pose any potential threat for EU as an imperialist bloc.
For communists to participate in such institutions poses an enormous threat of opportunism and corruption. Wherever communists participate in EU elections (which I don't necessarily always oppose, although I tend to support boycott) they should be absolutely clear on their principles and aims. If there's any inconsistency in the communists' anti-imperialist stance in their policy towards the EU, then such communists are doomed to be sucked in the system as a "loyal opposition" similar to social democrats in national parliaments.
It might be usefull to remember how Lenin viewed the possibility of "United States of Europe" in the context of his analysis of imperialism, for example in this particular article:
ON THE SLOGAN FOR A UNITED STATES OF EUROPE
Note that Lenin treats it as a question of principle, instead of tactics.
"It's like if the Terminator listened to Imagine too many times."
-'Frank_Carbonni' on communism
-'Frank_Carbonni' on communism
- By wat0n
- By Negotiator
- By litwin